Those of you on Facebook know about this, but my sweet baby boy Don Juan passed away on the evening of September 23. He had been suffering some age-related issues for a few months, but he went downhill VERY dramatically the last two days. I'd made an appointment to have him PTS, but he died the night before.

I adopted Don Juan from the old Santa Clara Valley Humane Society in May 2001. He had come into SVHS as a stray, and their best estimate was that he was about a year and a half old. He gave me a kiss. After a few days for the Humane Society to render him incapable of BEING a Don Juan, he came home.

And, for the 13.5 years after that, he was my friend and companion. He prompted me to leave a problematic boyfriend in November 2001, cheerfully (more or less) accepted his sister Zerlina in May 2005, and two step-kitty-siblings in 2010. He was Cat of the Day on Bastille Day 2003, and celebrated by catching a mouse in the yard!

Our family has had a difficult time in the past few months, but we finally got ourselves in a good place last month... and he started to decline. Only ten days before he passed, he could still do this:



I took this one two days before he passed. I could still see the love shining in those beautiful celadon eyes.


He gave me one last sandpaper-tongue kiss. And then he was gone.